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A review by lunaquarius
Slaying the Vampire Conqueror by Carissa Broadbent

adventurous slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Man, I have some issues with the books in this series, but that doesn’t stop me from devouring each one. :)
 
The world is so interesting, and is quite intricately built in the Nightborn Duet (Books 1 and 2). Like the other standalone novella in this series, this book is purely supplemental, but does add more to the understanding of the greater world than Six Scorched Roses. The author does a really great job fleshing out the lore and all the moving parts. The plot thread regarding the world is interesting, and was clearly thought through. It's not the driving force here, but it does exist and kept me interested.
 
The stronger plot is the romance. The relationship between the Sylina and Atrius is full and developed. I wouldn’t personally call this enemies to lovers (which this seems to be marketed as). The "enemies" portion is really weak and abandoned early on.
In the set up, the reason he is an enemy is because our main character's friend was killed in his invading army. This thread really only lasted maybe less than a quarter of the book, and the friend wasn’t brought up again.
The author excelled in creating a good slow burn, though, and writes amazing romance overall. I loved their individual histories, the exploration of Sylina's time with the Arachessen. It was really intriguing to follow her unpack her past.
 
At its core, there really are no characters of substance other than Sylina and Atrius. Although we are in an army of thousands, we only have Erekkus described in physical detail at all. He ultimately serves as someone who reflects Atrius at a superficial level for the sake of Sylina understanding him more, without directly interacting with him. We truly know nothing about him.
Other than he had a child on Veratas, who supposedly died mid book, he has no history or personality traits. We really don’t know how he feels about his child's death. He doesn’t even get a line of reaction when discovering the bodies, but later on we get about a page of interaction where he doesn't say anything about it.
It was a missed opportunity. The Sightmother was interesting, though!
 
The concept of Sylina being blind could have been pretty unique, but it ultimately fell a little flat and vague to me. She can't see, with an emphasis that she "senses," instead, but can see colors, shapes, expressions (described in physicality) as well as the "sightless" auras, presences, threads of life. It can be confusing. For example:
Page 219: "The mists seeped into the sky, tinged rosy with the faintest hint of of distant, oncoming dawn."

And then later on the same page: "For a moment, a sharp stab of mournful regret rang out in my chest--regret that I could no longer see what it must have looked like in sight alone, with all it's intangible imperfections. I could imagine it, though--his silhouette dark against the silver waves, his hair like a waterfall of moonlight."
So, can Sylina see what's in front of her or not? Because she describes everything in clear detail all the time with "sight words," in these moments it becomes unclear what she doesn’t see. Her lack of sight is a half-baked idea that it felt like the author really wanted to play with but didn’t know how to execute. I wish she had really gone for it!
 
Sylina's ability to sense and interact with the "threads" in the world was really compelling, and I loved the concept of Threadwalking and the risks that seem to come with that. I would have liked it to play an even greater role, because it was really interesting as a darker/bloodier path to seeing the future.
 
Ultimately this book is worth a read and was really quite enjoyable, and I'm continuing with the series as a whole, of course.
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